Tallest tower viewing deck reopens

Dubai, April 5, 2010

The observation deck of the world's tallest skyscraper has reopened in Dubai, two months after an elevator malfunction.

Dozens of tourists were lining up for tickets to take an elevator to the 124th floor of Burj Khalifa, where the tower's observation deck is located, according to a report in our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News.

The deck was shut in February after an elevator packed with visitors got stuck between floors for 45 minutes before rescuers dropped a ladder into the shaft so those inside could crawl out.

Most visitors who paid the 100 dirhams ($27) for a three-minute ride to the deck.

'We feel fortunate to have gone up,' said Sheetal Gulati, a tourist from the UK who's on a three-day trip to Dubai.

Emaar, the state-linked company that owns the tower, had little to say about February's accident. The company said nothing about an elevator malfunction at the time of the accident and did not provide details of any repairs or maintenance work on the elevators before the viewing deck reopened.

Burj Khalifa was designed by Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which has a long track record engineering some of the world's tallest buildings, including Chicago's Willis Tower, the tallest in the US formerly known as the Sears Tower.